1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, such as a silver-halide film camera, a digital camera, and a digital video camera, which includes a zoom type lens barrel configured to change a shooting magnification by moving between a storage position and a shooting position along an optical axis.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a type of an imaging apparatus including a zoom type lens barrel, such as a digital camera, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-212630 discusses an imaging apparatus including a reflection optical element, such as a prism, which guides light flux incident thereto from a plurality of lens units into an image sensor by bending the light flux in a direction intersecting with an optical axis to achieve a small size lens barrel.
In the zoom lens discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-212630, a light flux incident from a first lens unit is bent in a direction substantially perpendicular to a light-incident optical axis by using a reflection optical element, such as a prism, which is provided to the rear of the first lens unit of a lens barrel. In this manner, the conventional method forms an image on the image sensor. In addition, in the above-described conventional method, a through hole, through which a holding member configured to hold a prism can enter and exit between a position rear to the first lens unit and a retraction position close to the image sensor, is formed on a fixed barrel.
Even if the size of the first lens unit arranged on the light flux-incident optical axis is large, it is desired by the market to provide a camera having a thin body by reducing the dimension of the camera in the direction of the light-incidence optical axis in a lens barrel retracted state.
However, in the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-212630, in retracting the first lens unit along a light-incident optical axis, the first lens unit can be retracted only up to a position at which the first lens unit does not interfere with a cover on a back surface of a lens barrel holding frame. Accordingly, if a large-size first lens unit is used, a space into which the first lens unit is to be retracted may be limited. Therefore, the above-described conventional method can reduce the thickness of the camera body by only a limited amount.